Just like how Day 1 of Governors Ball 2018 began in epic fashion with an in your face finale by Slaves, Jay Electronica started of Day 2 with an equally thrilling bang. Beginning his set he found that he didn’t like how far away he was from the crowd and soon jumped into the front row, performing a few tracks there to the astonishing delight of all those in the front rows. Eventually he went even deeper into the crowd, before returning to the stage and inviting a good portion of those in the front row up there with him. This isn’t the sort of thing you normally see at a major festival, which made me applaud the hell out of Jay Electronica. Now, if we could only get that damn album already….

Jay Electronica

Following Jay, we caught a lively performance from punk rockers The Menzingers, before keeping the rock vibes going strong with a performance for the always reliable Canadian duo of Japandroids. They were still hungover from their Gov Ball After Dark performance the night before at Elsewhere, but the equally high energy crowd kept them going strong and offered one of the best performances of the weekend. From there it was time to dance along with Cut Copy on the main stage, which seemed to be the opposite of what Travis Scott fans who camped all day in the front row wanted to deal with. But if you can’t have a good time and get taken over by the infectious dance groove of Cut Copy, well, I don’t know what to tell you.

Cut Copy

Then it was off to catch Pusha T, definitely the most timely and relevant sets of the weekend due to his recent savage blow to Drake in their rivalry. Ironically, Pusha T wasn’t even originally supposed to perform at Gov Ball, only recently replacing Brockhampton. But for all those packed into the way too tiny tent for Pusha’s set, they were treated to one of the crazier moments of the weekend, with the entire crowd joining together for vicious chants of “Fuck Drake.” Pusha held his arm up signaling that it wasn’t necessary as he had so clearly already dealt the man enough of a final blow with his own words.

Pusha T

Silk City, the recent collaboration between Mark Ronson and Diplo brought some dance DJ vibes before we changed genres fast to the headlining performance from The Gaslight Anthem, who celebrated the 10th anniversary of their classic album The ’59 Sound with a performance of the entire album. They were unfortunately against Travis Scott which thinned out the crowd a bit more than we would’ve liked to see, but at the same time, it was obvious that every audience member there was a true and passionate fan, singing along to every single word with them. Along with the album the band played a flurry of favorites from throughout their discography, even with some late night rain arriving during the end of the performance, the band still powered through, feeding of the fans who got soaked all in the name of rocking out with their band.

The Gaslight Anthem

Find a full gallery of photos from all the performances we caught on Day 2 posted in the gallery below.

Jay Electronica:

The Menzingers:

Japandroids:

Japandroids at Randall’s Island Park, New York, United States – 2 June 2018